A total of more than 300 patients, at 14 Metro East long term care facilities, have contracted COVID-19 – with more than 40 of those patients dying from the diseases, according to Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) data, posted at the Chronicle’s deadline.

Nursing homes and similar facilities have “become an accelerator” for COVID-19 because they are enclosed and because residents tend to be vulnerable to complications from the virus, according a COVID-19 Long-Term Care Facility Guidance document, issued April 2 by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); the federal agency that effectively regulates most such institutions.

Long-term care centers have represented 40 percent to 50 percent of Illinois’ COVID-19 deaths since the IDPH began releasing data on coronavirus at such facilities on April 17.

The public reporting follows the department’s issuance of interim guidance on COVID-19 in nursing facilities on March 20.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will soon require nursing facilities to report COVID-19 cases directly to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) — the nation’s most widely used tracking system for healthcare-associated infection.

The CDC offered the latest in a series of online NHSN training programs for long-term care centers on May 7.

Federal regulators on April 30 released details of an interim rule that mandates nursing homes to report COVID-19-related infections directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Presently, nursing facilities report COVID-19 cases to county public health departments, which in turn report them to state public health departments.

The new federal rule requires nursing facilities to report coronavirus cases to the CDC on a weekly basis.

New cases must also be reported to other residents of a nursing facility — as well as their family or representatives — by 5 p.m. of the following business day, under the new federal rules.

Long term care facilities will also be required to file COVID-19 mitigation plans, such as restricted visitation policies, with federal authorities.

The new federal reporting is expected to take effect in July, following a 60-day public comment period.

In a letter to Gov. J.B. Pritzker last month, Madison County Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler cited long-term care data in asking for greater flexibility to reopen various types of businesses across the county.

Nursing facilities represent a disproportionately large percentage of the county’s total COVID-19 cases, Prenzler said.

COVID-19 cases in Monroe County long term care facilities have been making overall coronavirus rates for the county appear worse than necessary, County Board Chairman Bob Elmore, maintained in published comments last week.

State officials last month reported Monroe County has among the highest COVID-19 incidence rates in Illinois.

However, most the county’s COVID-19 cases are confined to one location: The Garden Place Independent & Assisted Living center, Elmore said.

The IDPH, at Chronicle’s deadline, reported no COVID-19 cases in nursing facilities in Bond or Washington county.

The department likewise reports no confirmed coronavirus cases in either Calhoun or Jersey county, just north of the greater Metro East area.

However, in Macoupin County, Heritage Health in Carlinville, has reported seven COVID-19 with no deaths.

In Montgomery County, the Montgomery Nursing and Rehab Center reports two cases, with no deaths.

Jackson County, just south of the extended Metro East area, has reported 29 cases with nine deaths. Integrity Healthcare of Carbondale has Reported two cases, with no deaths. Manor Court of Carbondale has reported 27 cases, with nine deaths.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS), at the Chronicle’s deadline, reported COVID-19 outbreaks at congregate living facilities in five St. Louis-area counties.

The MDHSS does not specifically identify nursing facilities, the number of patients with COVID-19, or mortality data for nursing facility patients.

The MDHSS reports can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/MOCOVID-19data